Master Bedroom

In my commitment to cleaning and organizing one room/closet each weekend, I tackled our master bedroom on Saturday. I thought it would be a piece of cake since I try to keep my closets and drawers pretty well organized to begin with. Well, it wasn’t as breezy as I thought. Turns out I was holding on to more items than I realized.

I started off with my night stand which basically is where I keep the book I am currently reading as well as the next ones to come. I also have some meditation books in the drawer and a journal, along with various other miscellaneous crap (sleep mask, pens, bookmarks, etc). This was an easy place to start as all I really had to do was straighten and dust (I admit to not dusting our room every week…I won’t admit to how long it’s been but let’s just say that the dust cloth was pretty black by the time I finished the room. *hanging head in shame*).

Then it was time for my dresser. I cleared off the top, which tends to be the spot in the room to catch all the junk that I’m too lazy to put away. Then I went through each drawer, pulling out items to toss, donate or keep. The kept pieces got put back in a more orderly fashion. Here is how my shorts drawer looked when I was done –

I think it says something about me that I have more workout shorts (all the colored ones in front) than I do regular shorts. Oddly enough, I rarely wear shorts during the summer. At work I’m in pants and on the weekends we’re usually at the beach so I wear a swimsuit and workout shorts. Oh, and yes, they are arranged in color order. It just makes things easier to find that way! Winking smile

Here is how the dresser looked when all was said and done –

Yes I have a lot of jewelry. I would say 90% of it is lia sophia, which I bought from a good friend. If you’re looking for a rep, let me know and I’ll give you her info!

(Notice my perpetual journal at the end. I put it there as I reminder to jot something down every night. So far I’ve been keeping up and only forgot on 2 occasions!)

Next it was time for my main closet. I have it organized as such:

top shelf = maternity clothes I am saving for the next baby (no this is not an announcement)
second shelf = sweater and p.j.s
rods = left side is winter, middle is belts and right side is summer
floor = left side is casual shoes, middle is tall boots and right is dress shoes

I started on the left, at the top, and worked my way down, then over. The shelves pretty much just needed straightening. When it came time to work on the hanging clothes, I pulled out the shirts I wanted to give away and implemented the backward hanger system for the rest of them.

Here’s how it works: you turn all the hangers backward, so that the hook faces out (instead of in like normal). As you take out clothes to wear, you turn that hanger the right way. In 6 months to a year, look at any hangers that are still backwards and chances are, those can be donated because you didn’t wear them during that time!

Such a pretty rainbow of colors!

Next came the shoes. This is an area I definitely get lazy with. It’s soooo much easier to just kick them off into the closet (or around the room) then put them back in their proper place. But, I do have to admit they’re easier to find when they are in their spot. I’ll be the first to admit that the floor of the closet won’t stay this neat. It’s a work in progress.

I then tackled the chest of drawers, which is mostly CJ’s stuff. I have only the bottom 2 drawers so that was easy peasy. Finally I knocked out my secondary closet. It’s just a half size and is home to long stuff like dresses and pants. We also keep extra blankets and pillows in there.

The last area of the bedroom is the master bath, which is all mine (CJ gets the other main bathroom as his own). I just did a quick cleaning job of that (I was low on energy by this point) and called it good.

And there you have it – another room done! By the end I had 2 big bags of stuff to take for donations. Like I said at the beginning, it wasn’t as easy as I had originally thought it would be and by the end of the day, my back and feet were aching from standing, bending, reaching, lifting, etc. I could literally feel my back muscles throbbing through dinner. Ugh. But it was worth it (and I know Jillian will get my back stronger and ready for the real back-breaking work to come when we move)!

My other project this weekend was to shoot pics of the artwork I’m going to sell. I was sort of dreading this because I knew it would be a lot of work and that I didn’t have the proper set up needed to really take good pics. But I got through it and they turned out pretty well. Then on top of that, I got all the pics downloaded on the computer and edited. I also cataloged each item, noting it’s title, medium, size and any other important info (like framed or unframed). Now all I have to do is get it put up on TTM and I’ll be in business. Hurray!! I’m really excited for you all to see my work and I hope you like it (maybe even enough to buy a piece or two!).